If you’re a long-time reader of Style and Senses, you know I have a Brand Focus series where I review products from the brands that I love. I heard of Jones Road What the Foundation as it went viral on Tiktok last year and then found out that Bobbi Brown, the makeup artist behind Bobbi Brown the makeup brand that I know and love, was the owner and founder of Jones Road. So when the Jones Road Beauty team reached out, I knew I wanted to write about them here on my blog. Their brand philosophy and products seem to be right up my alley, natural no-makeup makeup with a skin focus.
Disclaimer: All Jones Road products are kindly gifted by the Jones Road Beauty team. Links used in this post are affiliate links, and that means I will make a small commission if you decide to purchase anything.
about Jones Road Beauty
Jones Road Beauty is Bobbi Brown’s new clean beauty brand.
The brand philosophy is to create products that are easy, cool, and multi-purpose, products made from high-grade formulas. Their products are free of known harmful ingredients such as phthalates, sulfates, petrolatum, PEGs, cyclic silicones, EDTA, or BPA, and many other potentially harmful ones.
Note that Bobbi Brown herself is no longer affiliated or associated with the Bobbi Brown Cosmetics company or the Bobbi Brown branded products.
Jones Road Flagship store is located in Montclair, New Jersey, and they’re opening a store in late March 2023 in Greenwich Village, New York City.
WATCH ME GET READY WITH JONES ROAD PRODUCTS
Love the minimal all-paper packaging!
Miracle Balm is a balm that enhances and refreshes the skin.
You can wear it alone, and depending on the shade, you can mix and match to tint, bronze, or highlight the skin. It can be added on top of the foundation to add a flush of color, and that’s how I like to use it. It does not replace a blush for me!
Miracle Balm in Tawny (back) & Miami Beach (front)
Keep in mind that I have a medium skin tone with an olive undertone with redness on my cheeks.
I own 2 shades: Tawny – a reddish brown with a sheer finish and Miami Beach – a warm peachy coral with a subtle gold shimmer.
REVIEW:
First off, I love that it’s a balm, and it comes in a huge jar, and that will last me a long time. I don’t mind the idea of having to dig my fingers into the product because fingers are really the best tool with this type of balmy product. It leaves a sheer tint of something (depending on the shade you pick), a bit tacky since it seems like a type of product that would just sit on my skin.
Tawny has a red tint. When I apply it to my cheeks, I notice that it enhances the redness on my cheeks. Somehow it is not that flattering on my complexion even when used on top of foundation. Miami Beach looks a bit nicer on my complexion and does have that brightening effect on the cheekbones when used on top of the foundation.
Even though the shades are versatile, I’d recommend reading the shade description carefully before committing to a shade. It’s supposed to enhance and gives your skin a flush of color like a glow-from-within type of thing. The more you rub it into your skin, the more the color disappears. And I would definitely see it being a unisex versatile product like men could benefit from it too. I wouldn’t say that it can replace a moisturizer for me, but it’s a nice product and unique product to have in your makeup kit.
What the Foundation or WTF is kinda like a tinted moisturizer, something in between a balm and a traditional foundation. It has a light to medium buildable coverage and comes in 12 shades!
I have a medium skin tone with an olive undertone and a dry skin type.
I own shade Medium (medium with yellow undertones), and I think it’s a good match. I’m curious as to what the Medium Honey (medium to tan with neutral undertones) looks on me in comparison though.
REVIEW:
First off, I am not a fan of this glass jar packaging because it’s messy even though I know it gives us the option to see and finish the product entirely. There’s an inner plastic lid that sits on top of the glass jar opening, and every time I open it, it would just get messy. It’s the type of product that forces you to use your fingers.
On a regular basis, I’m a tinted moisturizer kinda gal, and I do think it’s nicer than a lot of the tinted moisturizers I’ve tried. The formulation is nice and blendable. The finish is sheer, kinda oily, a bit heavy, and it makes my skin tacky and oily looking. I have dry skin and do enjoy a glowy foundation, however, with this, I have to powder immediately because my hair would just get stuck to my face.
As of right now, I don’t think Jones Road has a powder, so I use this loose setting powder to set my entire face with. I reach for it on days when I don’t want to look like I’m wearing a lot of makeup plus I kinda enjoy the finger application. It is a fun and relaxing process for me, and I love products like this even though it can get messy. Lastly, I tried it with a damp beauty blender, and it lifts and sheers out the product so much. So a dry sponge, a dense brush or fingers are really the best tool here!
The Face Pencil is a creamy easy-to-use versatile concealer type of product. You can use it to cover redness, correct discoloration, and lighten dark circles, and it comes in 25 shades.
I have 3 shades, 7 – light skin with neutral undertones, 10 – light-medium skin with neutral undertone, and 12 – medium skin with neutral undertones.
REVIEW:
Shade 7 is perfect as a concealer for the undereye. I also use it all over my face on days when I don’t want to use foundation such as the hollow part of my cheeks, the center area between my brows, around my nose, and on the chin. Those are the areas where I typically need concealer, and the tiny pencil does the job.
Shades 10 and 12 are both a bit dark for my skin. Initially, I tried to match these to my skin color, but they don’t seem to do what I wanted them to do. Wrong shade match!
Besides the slightly wrong shade match initially, I adore these pencils. They’re small, super lightweight, and easy to just stick into my bag and touch up on the go. They’re surprisingly creamy and super easy to blend down with fingers. It’s got a beautiful natural matte finish that sorta reminds me of my favorite concealer from NARS.
On the Jones Road website, I see that they also recommend blending pencil with your favorite moisturizer to create a wash of coverage, so like a make-shift foundation. I tried it, and worked so I needed to mention it here. It’s truly an ‘everything stick’, so definitely get it in a few shades if you can.
You’d need this sharpener for these chubby pencils.
My brow hair is black, and I have the shade Dark Brunette.
REVIEW:
My brow hair is on the thicker and coarser side, so I do like a sharp and clean brow look on a daily basis.
Normally, I am used to using a pomade and an angled brush to fill in my brows. I’ve tried many brow pencils, brow pens, and brow powders, and pomade is just what I prefer since a tiny jar lasts forever. That and a good brow brush can never go wrong because I can fill in my brows quickly with precision. On days when I feel like the brows need some help, I’d reach for a flat brush and a tiny bit of a matte finish concealer to clean up the top and bottom parts of my brows and a coat of brow gel to hold the hair in place. That’s been my brow routine for years!
I think this brow pencil formulation and color are great, but personally, I don’t like a chubby brow pencil like this. It’s harder to target tiny bare spots on the brows. When I’m in a hurry, it’s not efficient because I still have to use a spoolie to diffuse the product. And after brushing it out, it just gets everywhere. Then comes another brush with a concealer to clean up the edges in order to look how I like them to be!
I like that it’s compact and lightweight, great for travel or just to have in your makeup bag at all times in an emergency, just not what I think about when I do my brows on the daily basis.
The Best Eyeshadows have a matte velvety finish. Very pigmented and easy to blend. Comes in 15 neutral matte and shimmer shades.
I have 2 shades, Antique Rose and Smokey Grey.
REVIEW:
These days, I’d rather shop for single eyeshadows in shades that compliment my skin tone and complexion. I find that with big palettes, I’d always reach for just a few shades and end up leaving the entire palette out to collect dust over time. I know selecting the right eyeshadows is also a confusing and time-consuming process, so I typically would just stick to neutral and a few matte shades that I am attracted to.
I adore these eyeshadows because they can be used alone as an all-over-lid color or blended together to create any look I want! They’re pigmented, easy to blend, and the packaging is so cute. Antique Rose is a great all-over-the-lid shade, and Smokey Grey sits super pretty in the lower lids and near the lash line.
All 15 shades that Jones Road has to offer seem to be right up my alley, and I cannot wait to add a few more.
I have the shade Topaz – a pinky gold with multidimensional shimmer. *It shows up a bit darker in the photo here due to lighting and editing.
REVIEW:
In case you don’t know, I’m a matte neutral eyeshadow gal 100%!
I tried Just a Sec as an all-over shade once on top of a matte eyeshadow base, and as expected, it did age me a little bit. I think the idea seems nice, but only works in studio editorial makeup and is not as flattering on me in real life. I think Glossier and Armani Beauty do have something very similar which I tried before and did not like.
Right now, I’d occasionally reach for it as an inner eye highlight. But in a long term, I don’t think I’d reach for something like this as often, and I know it would eventually get dried up like any other shimmer eyeshadow I own.
REVIEW:
I love that it’s super pigmented, super black, and easy to wash off.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the chubby curvy wand. The bristles pick up a lot of the product, and it gets on my lids every time. I think that happens a lot to new mascaras, especially ones with wet formulations or come in a big wand.
Jones Road mascara reminds me of this mascara from Lancome, one of my favorite all-time mascaras, but I don’t think it’s as good. Regardless, it is still a good mascara for every day because it’s easy to wash off. , and I really like how it adds some length and great volume to my lashes.
Bobbi suggested holding the lashes after application because it’s supposed to help curl the lashes naturally. But with my coarse hair lashes that point straight down, I need to curl them with a lash curler and something that holds my lashes up.
So far, this is the only mascara that keeps my lashes curled all day. However, it is waterproof, and I hate the feeling of waterproof mascara on my lashes because they make me feel sleepy and irritated. Waterproof mascara is also annoying to take off, so I don’t reach for it on a daily basis.
Lip and Cheek Stick is a lightweight blush and lipstick two-in-one kinda product. It blends easily on the cheeks and melts nicely on the lips. Comes in 8 shades.
I have the shade, Mauvy Rose – a dusty mauve, and English Rose – a rosy pink.
REVIEW:
I love blushes of all forms! Serum blushes, cream blushes, liquid blushes, and powder blushes, count me in! Over the years, I find that powdery pink, mauvy, and dusty rosy pink shades complement my complexion the most. And although I love natural makeup, I do want my blushes to show. I love the glowy finish of these Lip and Cheek Sticks. There’s some pigment, but it’s sheer. I know it’s buildable, but it’s annoying when I have to keep applying more to get the intensity that I like. The color barely shoes on my lips and does disappear fairly quickly. It’s moisturizing though!
These sticks need no introduction in my makeup kit because I do own a few products that are similar to these. They’re convenient and easy to use, and I’d recommend them if you’re into a flush of color on your cheeks and matching your lips with it.
The Everything Brush is an all-over brush. It’s dense, so it’s great for cream products.
The Eye Fluffy Brush is a flat fluffy brush, great to help deposit eyeshadow and build intensity.
REVIEW:
The bristles in both brushes are a bit too stiff to my liking but other than that, they’re both nicely made brushes.
Most of the Jones Road products are on the balmy and creamy side, so I’d recommend adding a synthetic brush like the Everything Brush if you don’t already have one. I like that it’s a dense brush, and it is indeed an everything brush, especially helpful when blending out cream products.
The eye brush is not my favorite eye brush I’ve used. It does the job, but I don’t love it as much because of the hard bristle. It can pick up eyeshadow and deposit to my entire lids with no problem, but I have to go back and forth a few times. Blending out the eyeshadow is tricky because it leaves a patchy finish. I think the term ‘fluffy’ is misleading since the bristle is too stiff and too short for blending eyeshadow all over the lids. It’s also a bit too big to use as a brush to pick up and deposit eyeshadow on to my lids. So skip the eye brush!
Conclusion
Overall, I am pleased with the formulation and performance of most of the Jones Road products that I got sent. Cute and minimal branding with products that focus on the skin and enhance the skin.
I understand the intention behind each product creation, and they actually perform or do what they say they do plus a little bit more.
Some products like the Miracle Balm and WTF seem interesting at first. I think they are unique, but I feel like they are not outstandingly good or different, balmy sheer moisturizing but lack the ‘wow’ factor. The What The Foundation is surprisingly better than I thought, but again, it’s more for tinted moisturizer lovers. The Lip and Cheek Sticks fall into a similar category, get them if you prefer sheer finishes.
The Face Pencils (in a few lighter shades than my actual skin color) which I specifically love to use in areas on my face where I need to conceal and highlight. I love the finish and the ease of use, but picking the right color or two can be challenging since they’re so similar to each other.
Besides the face pencils, I also love the 2 eyeshadow shades that I picked and how inky the mascara is. However, there is something good or similar like that out there already.
I’m curious as to how someone like my mom or aunts would benefit from these Jones Road products. I grow up seeing my mom using a product similar to What The Foundation. It’s basically just a cream complexion product that she just blends in with her fingers without the need to use a mirror or any brushes. I think she would probably like the Miracle Balm, too, but it’s got a tacky finish, not great for tropical or hot climates like Vietnam at all.
What are your thoughts on Jones Road products I featured in this post? Which one is your favorite? Leave a comment with a favorite product that you have from Jones Road, I’d love to try it next!
